THE ROAN 



nothing to do with acquired knowledge, as is very 

 well proved by the fact that in my own case it acts 

 only as long as I do not think about it. As soon as I 

 begin consciously to consider the matter I am likely 

 to go wrong. Thus many, many times I have back- 

 tracked in the dark over ground I had traversed but 

 once before, and have caught myself turning out for 

 bushes or trees I could not see, but which my sub- 

 conscious memory recalled. This would happen 

 only when I would think of something beside the way 

 home. As soon as I took charge, I groped as badly 

 as the next man. It is a curious, and sometimes 

 valuable extra; but by no means to be depended 

 upon. 



Now, however, as I was following Kongoni, this 

 faculty had full play; and it assured me vehemently 

 that we were wrong. I called Cuninghame up from 

 the rear for consultation. Kongoni was very positive 

 he was right, but as we had now been walking over an 

 hour, and camp should not have been more than 

 three miles from where we had killed the roan, we 

 were inclined toward niy instinct. So we took the 

 compass direction, in order to assure consistency at 

 least, and struck off at full right angles to the left. 



So we tramped for a long time. Every few 

 moments Kongoni would want another look at that 

 compass. It happened that we were now going due 



363 



